Day four at the ITTF Africa Senior Championship: Media training for players

28 Oct 2016

On day four, the players and coaches were given rest from competition and instead were taught some essential lessons about importance of media in sport. The media workshop conducted by ITTF Africa Press Officer Olalekan Okusan was a huge success.

The Executive Council of ITTF Africa decided to use the rest day for the player by conducting a “media workshop” with an aim to broaden the knowledge of the players on the importance of media in sport.

The media workshop was handled by the ITTF Africa, Press Officer, Olalekan Okusan who spoke about the vital role media plays in promoting table tennis and the players globally.

President of ITTF Africa, Khaled El-Salhy encouraged the players to make use of the training as it would help boost their profile as well as help them understand the need to relate well with the medium.

“I encourage everyone to be attentive and ensure that you get valuable information from this workshop because it aims to broaden your knowledge on the importance of media to the sport and to your career. I know some of you are familiar with the ITTF Africa, Press Officer, Olalekan Okusan who has been doing a good job in putting you on the world map. We are confident that through this training, table tennis would be visible more in the continent and it will rub off positively on your career.” -Khaled El-Salhy, President ITTF Africa

The coordinator of the training, Olalekan Okusan explained the importance of the media training while emphasizing the need for the players to see the media as an integral part in their progress both on and off their table tennis career.

There was a large turnout of players from the participating countries including Egypt’s Omar Assar, Nigeria’s duo of Segun Toriola and Olufunke Oshonaike as well as Egypt’s Dina Meshref.

Some members of the ITTF Executive Council and the representative of ITTF, Cherif Hajem were also present during the training.

The players engaged in eye opening conversations about their responsibilities towards the media and ways to promote themselves and the sport. There were some interesting discussions as players displayed their curiosity on this subject posing many questions.

Day four at the ITTF African Senior Championship was a great learning day for all players, coaches and officials.